International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 01 75

Radio Access Network Audit & Optimization in GSM

(Radio Access Network Quality Improvement Techniques)

Mudassar Ali, Asim Shehzad, Dr. M.Adeel Akram.

Abstract—Network audit is necessary to judge the network improvement can be achieved. The audit is usually a
performance and maintain QOS standards. The network audit comparative process and requires an initial baseline of KPI’s
identifies inconsistencies or limitations in current overall network and/or objectives. These can be derived from the design
design, helps to improve processes resulting in optimized network guidelines, service requirements, customer expectation, market
and improved quality of service. Radio Access Network audit benchmarks and others. The comparative baseline and/or the
includes many aspects of network like performance, neighbor,
parameter, frequency, competitive benchmark audits. In this paper,
KPI’s can be re-adjusted during the audit itself to improve its
real GSM Radio Access network evaluated, and different issues, diagnostic capabilities.
findings, trials and improvements have been summarized and Benefits of Network Audit.
observations/recommendations have been listed to correlate the Key benefits of network audit are:
practical aspects of RF optimization, which affect the performance, ™ Identify actions to improve network quality in problem
and QoS of an operational cellular network. areas.
™ Discover inconsistencies or limitations in current overall
Index terms— RAN, BSC, MSC, BTS, CSSR, CDR, HSR, TCH, network design.
COVERAGE, QUALITY, KPI, DT and QoS. ™ Discover practices or processes that can be improved or
optimized
I. INTRODUCTION ™ Results in improved Network quality , thereby reduced
churn
The mobile communication aims to offer anytime and anywhere ™ Optimize overall network design:
communications between any objects. GSM , One of the fastest ¾ Reduction of excess network elements
growing and most demanding of all telecommunications ¾ Postponement future CAPEX, leading to CAPEX
technologies . savings
GSM Network usually called as ‘cellular network’ (as the whole ™ It takes only a delay in the CAPEX for few BTS’s to justify
coverage area is divided into different cells and sectors) is the network audit investment
comprised of a mobile Station (MS) which is connected to the ™ Streamline processes:
Base Transceiver Station (BTS) via air interface. In addition to ¾ OPEX savings
other hardware, BTS contains the equipment called Transceiver
(TRX), which is responsible for the transmission and reception Network Audit Steps
of several radio frequency (RF) signals to/from the end user
.BTS is then connected to the base station controller (BSC) via The audit has 3 distinct steps:
abis interface. BSC usually handles radio resource management
and handovers of the calls from one BTS (or cell/sector) to the 1. Information gathering (The Diagnosis)
other BTS (or cell/sector) equipped in it. BSC is then connected 2. Information analysis and results (The Prognosis)
to Mobile Switching Centre (MSC). 3. Recommendations (The Cure)

This paper focuses on audit of radio access part of GSM III. INFORMATION GATHERING (DATA COLLECTION)
network, suggestions to optimize the network and post Following data will be collected for radio network audit
optimization benchmarks. Following is sequence of Objectives. 1. BSS Network Design and Performance Data.
™ All Site Data : sites position, antenna types, height,
1. Network Audit and Recommendations tilt electric and Mechanical) and azimuth, sector
2. Optimization Plan and Cluster optimization power, number of sectors, Number of TRXs per
sector
3. Post Optimization Evaluations (Benchmark ™ Macro Site data and Micro Layer data
Improvements) ™ BSC and transcoder designs
™ Coverage data
™ Neighbor List
II. RADIO ACCESS NETWORK AUDIT ™ Handover Parameter
The ultimate purpose of the audit is to establish a baseline that ™ Frequency Plan and Interference Analysis
measures overall network design, quality, performance and ™ OMC Statistics.
process, and to identify and characterize the areas where ™ Drive Test Statistics.
 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 01 76

2. Major Complaints from Customer Care. requested by the user.” In other words:
3. Revenue Churn report from Revenue assurance
department
Total_ NO _ of _ Successfull _ Calls_ Setup
Acessibility =
IV. INFORMATION ANALYSIS-RADIO NETWORK AUDIT FLOW Total_ Calls_ Accesses_ to _ Network
CHART Listed below are the KPIs connected to accessibility.

Algorithm for audit methodology used for test case of
network of city K is given in Fig.1
1. Paging Success Rate
The paging success rate measures the percentage of how many
paging attempts that have been answered, either as a result of the
first or the second repeated page.

Time _ of _ Paging _ Re sponses

PSR =
Time _ of _ Paging

Possible reasons for poor Paging Performance could be:

™ Paging congestion in MSC
™ Paging congestion in BSC
™ Paging congestion in Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
™ Poor paging strategy
™ Poor parameter setting
™ Poor coverage
™ High interference

2. SDCCH Access Success Rate.

SDCCH access success rate is a percentage of all SDCCH
accesses received in the BSC.

Possible reasons for poor SDCCH Access Performance could be:

™ Too High Timing Advance (MHT)

™ Access Burst from another Co-channel, Co-BSIC Cell
™ Congestion
™ False Accesses due to High Noise Floor
™ Unknown Access Cause Code

3. SDCCH Drop Rate

Fig.1 Radio Network Audit Flow Chart
V. RADIO NETWORK PERFORMANCE AUDIT
All the events being occurred over air interface are
triggering different counters in the Base Station Controller
(BSC). The KPIs are derived with the help of these counters
using different formulations.
A. Accessibility
Service accessibility is : “The ability of a service to be obtained,
within specified tolerances and other given conditions, when
The SDCCH DROP RATE statistic compares the total number
of RF losses (while using an SDCCH), as a percentage of the
total number of call attempts for SDCCH channels. This statistic
is intended to give an indication of how good the cell/system is
at preserving calls.
SDCCH _ Drops
SDCCH _ Drop _ Rate =
SDCCH _ Seizures
Possible reasons for SDCCH RF Loss Rate could be:
™ Low Signal Strength on Down or Uplink
™ Poor Quality on Down or Uplink
™ Too High Timing Advance
 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 01 77

™ Congestion on TCH This KPI gives rate of drop call. Percent of TCH dropped after
TCH assignment complete.
4. Call Setup Success Rate Total _ TCH _ Drops
CDR =
The Call Setup success rate measures successful TCH TCH _ Normal _ Assignment _ successes + inco min g _ DR + Inco min g _ HO _ Successes − Outgoing _ HO _ successes

Assignments of total number of TCH assignment *DR is directed retry

attempts.

( )
CSSR = 1 − SDCCH _ Congestion _ Rate * TCH _ Assignment _ Success _ Rate Possible reasons for TCH Drop Call Rate could be:

™ Low Signal Strength on Down or Uplink

⎛ ⎞
⎟ * (1 − TCH_Conges tion_Rate ) * (1 − TCH_Assign ment_failu reRate ) * 100
SDCCH_Over flows
CSSR = ⎜1 − ™ Lack of Best Server
⎝ SDCCH_Call _Attempts ⎠ ™ Congestion in neighboring cells
™ Battery Flaw
Reasons for low call setup success rate could be: ™ Poor Quality on Down or Uplink
™ Too High Timing Advance
™ TCH congestion ™ Antenna problems
™ Interference ™ Low BTS Output Power
™ Poor coverage ™ Missing Neighboring Cell Definitions
™ Faulty HW units ™ Unsuccessful Outgoing Handover
™ Unsuccessful Incoming Handover
5. Call Setup TCH Congestion Rate
2. Handover Success Rate
The Call Setup TCH Congestion Rate statistic provides the
percentage of attempts to allocate a TCH call setup that were
The handover success rate shows the percentage of successful
blocked in a cell.
handovers of all handover attempts. A handover attempt is when
a handover command is sent to the mobile.
No _ of _ TCH _ Blocks ( Excluding _ HO )
Call _ Setup _ TCH _ Congestion _ Rate =
No _ of _ TCH _ Attempts
HOSR
Possible reasons for call setup block could be:
Possible reasons for poor handover success rate could be:
™ Increasing Traffic Demand
™ Congestion
™ Bad Dimensioning
™ Link Connection or HW Failure
™ HW Fault & Installation Fault
™ Bad Antenna Installation
™ High Antenna Position
™ The MS Measures Signal Strength of another Co-or-
™ High Mean Holding Time (MHT)
Adjacent Cell than Presumed
™ Low Handover Activity
™ Incorrect Handover Relations
™ Congestion in Surrounding Cells
™ Incorrect Locating Parameter Setting
™ Bad Radio Coverage
B. Retain ability
™ High Interference, Co-channel or Adjacent

Service retain ability is “The ability of a service, once obtained,

to continue to be provided under given conditions for a VI. NEIGHBOR, PARAMETERS AND FREQUENCY AUDIT.
requested duration.” In other words:
It is important for the neighbor list to be updated and optimized
as it directly affects handover decisions in a
Total _ Calls _ Completed
Re tainability = mobile network. Wrong or missing neighbor relations may cause
Total _ Successful _ calls _ setup an on-going connection to drop or be handed over to the wrong
Listed below are the KPIs connected to retain ability. neighbor cell. Excessive neighbor relations in a cell, on the other
hand, may cause wrong handover decision on the part of the
BSS because of inaccurate measurements. Neighbor relations
1. Call Drop Rate
and parameters are cross checked to identify and remove
™ One way neighbors
™ Illogical neighbor Relations
 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 01 78

Methods used to assign frequencies in the network are reviewed Fig 3. Coverage Plot for Operator 2 for City K
and the steps are taken to control interference and maximize
network capacity through frequency planning. BCCH/BSIC Legend For Coverage is given below .
reuse is crosschecked. MA (Moblile Allocation) List is cross
verified.

VII. COMPETITIVE BENCHMARK AUDIT

In competitive benchmarking, coverage and quality comparison
of network is performed with competitors.
Below is coverage and quality comparison for two operators for Formula For Coverage Rate:
a city, Results are taken Drive test tool, TEMS. No _ of _ samples _ having _ Signal _ strength ≥ −90 dbm
Covergae _ Rate = * 100
Total _ Samples
Coverage Comparison :
Results for Coverage rate for operator 1 and operator 2 taken for
As visible from Plots mentioned in Fig.2 and Fig .3 operator 1
city K are given below
have better coverage than operator 2. which is also visible in
KPIs.
KPI Operator 1 Operator 2
COVERAGE
RATE 94.64% 72.77%
Quality Comparison:
As visible from plots mentioned in Fig 4 and Fig 5 , Operator 1
has better quality than operator 1 , which is also visible in KPIs

Fig 2 . Coverage Plot for Operator 1 For City K :

Fig .4 Quality Plots for Operator 1 For City K.

 International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 01 79

Fig. 5 Quality Plots for Operator 2 for city K

Legend For Quality Plots is as follows :

Formula for Quality:

( RX _ Qual0 + RX _ Qual1 + RX _ Qual2 + RX _ Qual3) + ( RX _ Qual4 + RX _ Qual5 + RX _ Qual6) × .07

Re ceive _ Quality =
Total _ Samples

Results for receive quality for operator 1 and

operator 2 taken for city K.

KPI Operator 1 Operator 2

Rx QUALITY 88.19% 87.18%

VIII. REFERENCES
[1] Halonen T., Romero J., Melero J.: GSM, GPRS and EDGE
Performance. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2003. [2] ITU-T
recommendation G.1000 (2001), Communication quality of
Service: A framework and definition.
[3] Jens Zander. ‘Radio Resource Management for Wireless
Networks’. Artech House Inc., 2001
[4] Bilal Haider,M.Zafarrullah Khan, M.K.Islam: Radio
Frequency Optimization and QOS in operational GSM network.